Letters: Government secrecy has its purposes

The postal service is now photographing the exterior of all U.S. mail (Getty Images).

accumulating power as the end goal for government is the real reason why our government has built a "massive surveillance state that monitors the behavior of everyone" ["A not-so-clandestine surveillance state," Opinion, July 10]. Although his major concern seems to be "civil liberties," I suspect that if he instead recognized that we are in a war with radical extremists and terrorists, he might worry less about our government's counter-terrorism methods to win that war.

His most recent concern originates from a New York Times report that "Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States – about 160 billion pieces last year." The sheer quantity alone should allay his fears. Unless something obvious surfaces that would help in the war on terrorism, the information will be ignored and discarded.

He equates the accumulation of power to the government's ability to scan such things as letters "containing your wedding invitations, NRA membership renewal forms and mailed political donations." I think we can assume such information is far from the interests of our counter-terrorism agencies.

He also bemoans the fact that, "They don't feel obligated to tell us much of anything anymore" regarding the secrecy surrounding the government's surveillance efforts. He believes, "This is a scandal."

The Fourth Estate's desire to get as much information as possible is a natural consequence of its reporting obligations. However, I assume columnists like Friedersdorf recognize the need for secrecy in waging war with our enemies.

Not telling everyone what tools they are using nor their effectiveness is not a scandal – it's a common-sense approach to maximizing the efficacy of these tools. It's why we have security measures in place and it's why the counter-terrorism agencies classify information and clear individuals who have access to this information.

So unlike civil libertarians who worry about the Fourth Amendment guarantee that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures ..." I would worry much more if my government didn't do everything in its power to prevent a terrorist attack like 9/11 from being repeated.

If that means they have access to my emails or my letters, I have no problem with that.

Simplistic austerity

SAN CLEMENTE, Chuck Hackwith: Columnist Matthew Melchiorre seems to make the case for successful "austerity" based upon "lessons" he extracts from sweepingly selective, brief histories of Estonia and Greece, in order to apply them to the U.S. ["Europe's lessons on austerity success," July 9]. His conclusion? "Quite simply, that we should draw on our traditions of individualism and self-reliance to pursue policies that reduce government's economic footprint." And, further, "if we only rediscover our individualist, can-do spirit." Really?

Let's compare populations. Estonia has a population of less than 1.5 million; its largest city's population is about the size of Bakersfield. Greece has about 11 million population and California about 36 million.

Some writers apply abstract, simplistic nostrums to hugely complex issues. Estonia and Greece are not counterparts to the United States in history, culture or economy. Neither is it particularly fair to unfavorably compare the land and people of Greece with those of Estonia, "simply" on the basis of the state of their economies over the last few years.

Lessons learned are best left to skeptical individuals who can spot skewed advocacy. As a parting shot, some of us may remember a European history class; wasn't it ancient Greece that left us ideas about political democracy?

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